January 8, 2013

Worth It

I’m
living in a new house.

I
haven’t moved. But I took the week between Christmas and New Year’s to
accomplish a task I’d pondered for months: deep cleaning and reorganizing my
home from top to bottom.

I
hadn’t necessarily planned to tackle the project just then, but the gift of a
new computer motivated me to reconfigure my home office…which inspired me to
clean out and de-junk the entire room…which gave me momentum to keep going
until I’d reorganized virtually every space in the house. My husband cleaned up
his home office, too, and we followed through on a long-promised bedroom switch
for our daughters. So by New Year’s Eve a long line of large garbage bags
awaited pickup on our curb and a huge pile of items to donate sat in our
basement.

I
can now easily locate anything I seek in any closet or cupboard. My girls can
find all their art supplies and toys at a glance. My refrigerator isn’t growing
any accidental science experiments. And I feel less materialistic because,
though we still have much more “stuff” than most people around the world will acquire
in a lifetime, I’ve actually gotten rid of most things we owned but never truly
used. My home feels refreshed and new.

I
don’t describe that to toot my own horn. In fact, I don’t resemble anyone’s
image of “Susie Homemaker.” Before last week, I managed to make things
presentable for company, but piles of embarrassing clutter lurked behind closed
doors, and I hid the wretched state of my kitchen by firmly refusing my guests’
offers to help with meal prep. And I’m going to struggle to maintain a semblance
of the newly streamlined look of the place.

But
now, because I devoted the time and effort necessary to tackle my looming
problem, I finally have hope that maintenance is possible. Now I pause to
return things to their proper places instead of just leaving them for another
day. And now I can see the merits and value of setting up a regular weekly
cleaning schedule.

The
same can really be said for virtually any big task any of us faces.

Is
your marriage on fragile footing? Do you struggle to communicate with a moody
child? Are your finances in disarray? Are you dissatisfied in your job?

Each
of those problems – and many others – can seem as insurmountable as climbing
Mount Everest. And when a situation involves other people, we can still only
tackle our side of the summit, trusting that our work might motivate other
parties. But my house renewal project started with the first bag I stuffed with
unnecessary papers and broken pens and pencils. And those who’ve actually
scaled Mount Everest got there by taking an initial step.

We
can begin new projects any time, but starting in January can be especially
motivating for many. If that’s true for you, decide on one big task you feel
called to tackle right now. Then take the first step today so you can build
momentum toward eventually finishing the job.

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